Philedelphia Mummers perform at Thunderbirds game Friday night
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – St. Patrick's festivities continue across western Massachusetts ahead of the celebrations in Holyoke this weekend.
We are just 2 days from the historic Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade and from celebrations at Irish pubs to kicking things off at Friday night's Thunderbirds game! The community is enjoying every moment.
Whether you're in Springfield, Holyoke, or anywhere in western Massachusetts–The St. Patrick's celebration continues on the biggest weekend to honor the Irish and to countdown to parade day events are taking place all across western Massachusetts.
The Mass Mutual Center hosted Philadelphia's aqua string band as they performed their own mummer's parade on the concourse. The crowd was dressed in green from head to toe. 'I do this every year for the Thunderbirds,' says Robert Florio of Springfield. 'I come to it all the time every year, and then tomorrow's the road race and then Sunday's parade day. This is like the biggest weekend of my entire life.'
Local dance academies put on their own performance. One Irish dancer from East Longmeadow shares the key to moving to the beat, 'It's just really confidence if you believe in yourself you can do it,' says Ella Bruce. That's also what's keeping the community going during the months-long Irish celebration.
And some traveling back to their hometown for this very special weekend, Renee O'Hanlon from New York told 22News, 'I'm originally from Chicopee but I live in New York and I've lived there for the last 22 years, so I just came to be with my friends I don't get to see that often. I'm on the Chicopee St. Patrick's parade committee, I'm also one of the Colleen moms for the City of Chicopee.'
Parade day will be marching on the streets of Holyoke on Sunday. Before that on Saturday, Holyoke's road race. With festivities going on all weekend, you will want to be aware of some of those road closures. But it's good to keep in mind on parade day, road closures are an hour before the start at 11 am.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
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